July 15, 2018

Jesus sent His disciples out “two by two” to proclaim the Good News of the coming of the kingdom of God. Interestingly, we usually only have one priest in a parish, one bishop in a diocese, and one Pope in the Church. Let’s face it, most of us only see the priest on Sunday, the Bishop at Confirmation, and the Pope on television. Obviously, as important as they are, these people can’t be the most influential people in the lives of our children.

And yet, the Lord “sent them out two by two.” For me, this message is directed towards parents. After all, parents are the most influential people in the lives of their children. What parents imprint onto the heart and spirit of their child will mark them for the whole of their lives and in every relationship they will ever have. God sends His children into the hands and lives of parents. He asks these mothers and fathers to care for them, to raise them, to love them, and to teach them. “Two by two” they watch over God’s children and form them.

God asks parents to imprint onto the hearts of their children the Gospel message, to form them in the Light of Christ, to introduce them to the life of grace, and to instill in them the love of God. He asks you to be men and women of faith, not only for your own sake, but for the good of those you love most. For life without faith is darkness. Life without faith is to be dead. To be such great teachers parents must live this way themselves. After all, the good shepherd leads the sheep, and the sheep follow the path which has been found and made safe by the shepherd. Compassion, virtue, courage, tenderness, kindness, charity, these things are learned by seeing and doing. The best way for these virtues to become the very character of our children is for parents to witness to them day by day in their home, live them out in their relationship as husband and wife, father and mother. To see them lived by the most important teachers in their lives, the people God has sent out “two by two,” – parents. Jesus still sends out His disciples “two by two.”